The decision is usually already made
Most decisions worth agonising over have already been made by some quieter part of you, weeks ago. The agonising is the conscious mind catching up to a verdict it does not want to ratify. The signs are subtle: which option you describe with more energy, which one you keep finding reasons against, which one your body relaxes at when you imagine choosing it. Talking it out loud lets all those signs surface at once.
Listen for which option your voice softens around. That is usually the answer.
Pros and cons lists are a trap
Spreadsheets feel rigorous and almost always lie. Items have wildly different weights, weights you cannot quantify, and the act of listing things often becomes an exercise in justifying the option you already wanted. The problem is not insufficient analysis. The problem is that you are using analysis to avoid feeling.
If a spreadsheet were going to solve this, you would have solved it three weeks ago.
Future regret is a better compass than current fear
A useful question, sharper than 'what should I do', is 'which version of this would I most regret in five years?' Regret is a clearer signal than excitement, because excitement responds to novelty and regret responds to values. The path that fear is currently steering you away from is often the path that future-you would have wanted you to take.
Aim at minimising regret, not maximising certainty. Certainty is not on offer.
Decision fatigue is not the same as bad judgement
If you have been thinking about this decision for weeks, your brain is exhausted, and exhausted brains default to the status quo. That is a bias, not wisdom. Sometimes the right move is to make the decision quickly, on a good day, while you can still hear yourself. The 'I will think about it more' option is rarely a real option after a certain point. It is just procrastinating with extra steps.
After a certain point, more deliberation is not better thinking. It is just delay.
